A recipe for Lemon Lavender Cupcakes that is lemony, floral, and delicious. These cupcakes are unique and beautiful and everything is made from scratch!
Today I'm sharing a recipe for Lemon Lavender Cupcakes. Something a little different than your typical cupcake and sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
This is an oldy but a goody, I first made these almost 10 years ago and it's still one of my favorites! For some reason, lemon and lavender go perfectly together and when you have fresh lemon zest and lavender cooking in your kitchen your house smells amazing.
Now I'm dreaming of summer...get here quick, please! ☀️ These are a great dessert to serve at a shower or lunch party or any occasion you want.
Ingredient List for Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
- all-purpose flour
- dried lavender buds + more for decoration
- baking powder
- kosher salt
- sugar
- egg
- lemon zest (zest your lemon BEFORE you juice it!)
- fresh lemon juice
- milk
- unsalted butter, room temp
- vegetable shortening (optional)
- confectioners powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
How to make Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
These cupcakes are easy to put together and they are completely made from scratch!
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and prepare the cupcake pan with liners.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and set them aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together then add the egg and lemon zest.
- Incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients including the milk in three intervals, being careful not to overmix.
- Fill the prepared liners and bake for 20-22 minutes.
How to Make Lemon Buttercream Frosting
Make the Lemon Buttercream Frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Cream the butter and shortening for 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar one cup at a time. After 4 cups, add the milk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Add more powdered sugar if desired until you get the sweetness and consistency you like.
The vegetable shortening is optional. If you do not want to add shortening, just use all butter (2 sticks). The vegetable shortening helps make the frosting just a bit more firm and creates a little bit of a crust after piping which I like. I also wanted to make the rose pattern using the Wilton 2D tip and knew that the frosting needed to be firm.
How do you get Lavender flavor into cupcakes?
To get the beautiful and authentic lavender flavor, you will use dried lavender buds. Although all lavender is edible, you want to use culinary lavender because it has a sweeter flavor.
Regular lavender is more bitter. Most of the dried lavender you find in-store and online are culinary, but double-check the description or ask if you are not sure. You don't need much to get the perfect lavender flavor, these cupcakes only call for 1 ½ tsp!
Want more Delicious Cupcake and Lavender Recipes?
- 10 Uses for Homemade Lavender Syrup
- Lavender Sourdough Discard Scones with Lemon Glaze
- Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes
- Easy Lemon Curd Filled Cupcakes
- Apple Lavender Galette Recipe
- Instant Pot Lavender Cheesecake
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
Equipment
- cupcake pan and liners
Ingredients
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon dried lavender buds
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest your lemon BEFORE you juice it!)
- 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ cup milk, room temp
Lemon Frosting
- 12 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp (¾ cup)
- 4 tablespoon vegetable shortening
- 4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk or heavy cream
- 4 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- fresh or dried lavender buds for decoration
Instructions
Lemon Lavender Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and lavender buds in a mixing bowl together and set aside.
- In another bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, this takes a few minutes. Beat in the egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined.
- Add about a third of the dry ingredients and mix them into the butter mixture using a spatula or spoon. Be careful not to over mix, or your cupcakes will be dense. Add half of the milk and mix it in. Add another third of the dry ingredients and combine. Add the rest of the milk and the rest of the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
- Fill liners with batter and bake for 20-22 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
Lemon Buttercream Frosting
- Add the butter and shortening to a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. After 4 cups, add the vanilla, milk, lemon juice, and zest. Add more powdered sugar if desired.
- Fill a piping bag with frosting and put some onto each of the cooled cupcakes. After each cupcake has frosting on it, sprinkle with lavender buds so that they stick when the frosting hardens. Enjoy!
Notes
- To easily fill a piping bag, place it in a tall, shallow glass and fold it over the edges. You can easily fill the bag without making a mess!
- You could also make lavender sugar ahead of time and add it in place of sugar and buds. See my post on 5 Things you can do with your Coffee Grinder for how to do that!
- If you want a lighter cupcake, you can make a lemon glaze instead of the buttercream. Just mix 1 cup powdered sugar, 4-5 teaspoons lemon juice, and lemon zest.
- Nutrition facts calculated using milk.
Nutrition
Any nutrition calculations are only estimates using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Did you make these Lemon Lavender Cupcakes?
If you made these cupcakes, tag me on Instagram or Facebook and show me, I love to see your creations! You can also follow me on Pinterest and sign up for my mailing list and I will email you even more delicious recipes!
Brittany Love says
I ended up making it all work - on the third try - but the recipe was a bit hard to follow. It starts with the instructions but then lists how much of which ingredient to use at the end. This means I was out of butter and had to improvise for the frosting.
Emily says
Hi Brittany, sorry you had so much trouble, I hope the end result was still delicious. I took a look at the directions and made a few changes. The recipe card has step-by-step instructions which will hopefully be helpful in the future. Thanks for trying the recipe!
Lindsey says
Made these and they were such a hit!! So amazing! I added candied lemon slices as garnish too! But for some reason every time I made a batch it only made 9 cupcakes.
**how long should these last? Or stay fresh?
Emily says
Hi Lindsey, I'm so glad you liked these, the candied lemon garnish sounds so good. This is a smaller batch recipe and if you like your cupcakes to be a little more full, you may only get 9. You could double the recipe if you wanted more cupcakes. They should last for 3-5 days in the fridge.
Lizzie Gray Nunnery says
10/10 would recommend! It was soo good! Very lemony and just the right amount of lavender. The recipe was super quick and easy to follow.
Emily says
Lizzie, thank you so much for the review! I'm so glad you liked these cupcakes, they are one of my favorites.😊
Michelle | Taste As You Go says
I've always loved lavender lemonade, so I know I'd love these cupcakes! Though, I'm not sure I'd be able to frost/decorate mine as nicely as you have!
Emily says
You are definitely going to love these cupcakes! Have fun with the decorating and no matter what it looks like, they will still taste amazing!
Freya says
I love the flavour of lavender and here it paired perfectly with lemon!
Emily says
Lemon and lavender are a match made in heaven! I'm so glad you liked these cupcakes.
Linda says
Love the flavor combo of these cupcakes. So smooth, creamy, and delicious!
Emily says
Thanks, Linda! You can never go wrong with a cupcake 🧁.
Jeri says
I made these for dessert the other night when we had friends over for dinner, and WOW! They were absolutely delicious! I had no idea that lemon and lavender went together so beautifully! So good!
Emily says
Yay, that makes me so happy to hear! These are the perfect treat for a get-together and I'm so glad your friends liked them. Thanks for trying the recipe!
Addie says
These cupcakes are equally beautiful and delicious! Loved the unique flavor combo!
Emily says
So glad to hear it, Addie. These are definitely my favorite!